Have you seen this message when installing SolidWorks 2018? With each major release it’s important to check the system requirements before installing. Windows 7 is currently the most popular operating system, with about 68% of PCs worldwide using this OS! But did you know it’s currently past “mainstream” support?

Welcome back SOLIDWORKS Users to this awesome tutorial where we are celebrating Deadpool’s frequent Fourth wall breaks in this 4 part series. We’ve successfully reworked Wade Wilsons head to be a sharp tool holder. In this final part of the series let’s add a few final details to the top of the head, and we’ll use the Boundary Cut tool to hollow out the bottom of the bust to save on material while 3D printing. ﻿ Check out part one, part two, or part three of this series if you missed them!

The key to designing and 3D printing complex designs is problem solving. Coming up with an awesome idea, figuring out how in the world you going to make it and the hooray moment when the print finishes. This awesome grabber we have created shows how that can be achieved. We wanted to have a device which can grab our snacks for us without getting greasy fingers.

When you are dealing with such a complex and function rich software like SOLIDWORKS, it’s easy for a few hidden features to slip through the cracks. Although some of these offer only minor help to your day-to-day design work, some of them can have a major impact both now and in the future. One of these hidden gems many overlook is called the Enhancement Request. Maybe you have created your own hotkey that takes a 10-step process down to one and you wanted to share it with the world?

One thing SOLIDWORKS users use every day is the Smart Dimension tool during sketching. Beginners often start the command by selecting it at the Sketch toolbar of the CommandManager. But this needs quite some mouse travel to select it. So experienced users often use a shortcut key or mouse gestures to start it.

Have you ever wanted to test multiple versions of a part or drawing without the fear of ruining the original design? Well it’s possible in SOLIDWORKS, and a lot easier than it may seem. In this video, I’ll be showing you exactly how to copy a drawing file and duplicate it for multiple projects without having to start completely from scratch. Don’t like video?

Introduced in SOLIDWORKS 2017, ‘Magnetic Mates’ was arguably one of the best new features, but as the Beatles put it: “It’s getting better all the time!”. With SOLIDWORKS 2018, things are not only getting better, snapping objects together is getting easier too. Frustratingly, when using Magnetic Mates in 2017 there was often a struggle aligning connection points whilst ensuring the orientation was correct.

No matter the SOLIDWORKS rebuild command you use, whether it’s standard rebuild (the “green light” icon) or forced rebuild (CTRL-Q), it’s important to understand what is happening when SOLIDWORKS is building a feature. When a feature is being built, the modeling engine is carrying out an instruction in the file’s instruction set. The resulting information is geometry in the design space. SOLIDWORKS will check this geometry against existing geometry in the model to make sure it “fits”

When it comes to creating projects in SOLIDWORKS, the main goal is to spend as much time as possible on what is important, the design itself. Nobody wants to be stuck wasting unnecessary amounts of time on tasks like recreating file templates over and over. Come on, we are trying to increase productivity here! In this video, I’ll walk you through the process of creating a drawing template that can be used on multiple projects. ﻿﻿﻿ View the video transcription below: [

Football: Just in time for the Super Bowl, we got this model ready to go with no deflategate controversy here. This fun multi-body model has some uncommon but powerful features included. There are two simple examples of curved driven patterns. There is also a “deform” feature using the “Surface push” option to slightly deflate the ball.

In this article I would like to highlight some influencing factors when dealing with the new Topology Study in SOLIDWORKS 2018 (as part of Simulation Professional). Let’s have a look at the example of a girder loaded with a distributed force on the top and fixtures at the chamfered corners: We choose the default type “best stiffness to weight ratio” and define a value for the mass to be reduced of 70%, i.e. the final design should have 30% of the initial mass. Now we already can hit “Run”. The

by Alex Campbell-Brunton, SOLIDWORKS Technical Consultant SOLIDWORKS Routing is an add-in that allows you to completely automate the process of routing pipework, tubing or even cabling, saving you many hours of modelling against traditional methods. Sound interesting? SOLIDWORKS Routing In this article we want to show you the benefits of using this package. We know that projects often have tight deadlines so saving time at any stage can take some pressure off.

It goes without saying that one of the most frequently asked questions people have for us at Alignex is how to cut time and be more efficient when working with their 3D CAD designs. In this video blog, I’ll walk you through how to easily manage your configurations with a little known tool already found in the SOLIDWORKS platform, the Configuration Publisher. [Video Transcription] Many of us have seen how a toolbox fastener is inserted into an assembly.

1. What is SOLIDWORKS Manage?SOLIDWORKS Manage is an advanced product from PDM family (Product Data Management), which provides comprehensive tools to manage projects, processes and items in your Company. Flexible and expanded functionality of the SOLIDWORKS Manage allows easy and detailed planning of each project stage or process progress, including distribution of defined tasks to desirable departments or employees.

Ever wondered how to skew the odds in your favor? Well, we can try to make some dice that are skewed using SOLIDWORKS so that we can win at craps. But the funny thing is, as biased as these bones look, NumberPhile explains that they are perfectly fair given that you have both handed versions. Drat.

Chest of Drawers: This highly detailed, multi-body model has over a 150 bodies and is created mainly from extruded features. There are several examples of different types of wood joints. Dovetail joints are used in the drawer creation. Mortise and Tenon joints (open and closed) and tongue and groove joints are also used to build the framework of the chest.

Using the standard SOLIDWORKS tools and features from the CommandManager is already an extremely efficient method to quickly bring concepts into a three dimensional model. However, many users prefer to leverage a variety of both standard and custom shortcuts through hotkeys or context menus for an even faster workflow. This article covers many of the most impactful default keyboard shortcuts in SOLIDWORKS, and describes how to customize them for maximum time savings. While using SOLIDWORKS, all

As we start the New Year, let’s take a look at some technology updates for those looking at new ways to improve their design productivity with SOLIDWORKS 2018. Three key areas of focus on are: New design interface techniques enabled by Windows® 10 New very high resolution “4K” graphics cards and displays Smaller, lighter machines, typically equipped without DVD drives SOLIDWORKS 2018 offers new capabilities to best leverage new features in Windows 10. All new Windows-based machines are now

Record Player: The first record players are over 140 years old and are still unbelievably in use, in one form or another, today. This model is a little flashback of some old school music history. This is a multi-body solid created from mainly extruded features. This part has multiple shells including one with multi-thicknesses.

Wooden Ornament: This wooden ornament is made of multiple bodies patterned and slightly rotated to give a checkerboard appearance. A circular pattern creates the first layer or level. A linear pattern is then used to stack up the layers before they are all cut into shape. There is one example of the newer circular profile sweep function which saves times by eliminating the need to create a circle sketch.

Board Game: You don’t just play this board game, you must survive it. This fun multi-body model is mainly created from extruded bosses and a few cuts. One sketch picture is used to help create the walls and dividers of the box enclosure. There is a unique example of circular pattern of two circular patterns.